The balance between an open, self-serve environment and the challenge of stopping shoplifters is a delicate one. Locking things up and adding other theft-deterring elements like gates will steer many shoppers away.

Wow, what a conundrum. You can see why the drug guys closed stores there. Two things, although not the only things: 1.) increase staff presence on the floor and the lot — at least you could see when it’s coming and react by calling in the cavalry and 2.) ramp up that BOPAS, man, as the worst part of these incursions is that customers don’t want to be involved in anything like that so offer them options. Certainly BOPAS is a good one. That aside, this could be the worst thing I’ve seen in 30+ years of retail. Says a lot about the state of the nation.

I somehow think that Safeway’s products are not the target of these gangs. Can you imagine guys on the street selling “hot” cans of peas? So I feel like it’s kind of irrelevant.

Safeway has a right to protect its merchandise and staff. However the downside of this is that it creates a bad shopping environment for some honest customers. It’s the same thing when stores lock up things like razor blades and baby formula – understandable, but somewhat inconvenient. And of course, this type of action would do nothing to prevent professional gangs (not that they’re likely targeting Safeway). There needs to be much tougher policies on shoplifting from some of these cities and states which have become far too lenient over recent years.

San Francisco retailers have to take decisive action, and I doubt that these measures will deter legitimate shoppers.

I firmly believe that leveraging technology is a better answer than installing barriers and making a store into a fortress to keep people in. Unfortunately, some retailers now have to treat certain stores as war zones and take drastic measures like Safeway is doing. The majority, though, should be paying attention to advanced telecommunications technology like 5G, which will give us much higher and cheaper bandwidth and allow us to fulfill the promise of real-time retail and loss prevention. Video analytics solutions already exist to identify these thefts and layers with prescriptive analytics can trigger a response in real time to local authorities and create case management solutions to prosecute these people. The technology exists to thwart this threat. we just need to allocate the funds and deploy. Also, RFID tags are replacing hard tags at soft goods retailers. For higher-priced items in grocery, like small appliances, this is viable as an additional layer of loss prevention.

I haven’t heard yet of any flash-mob looting of a grocery store, but I’m certain that common shoplifting is not rare in some neighborhoods. If Safeway has been losing money in certain stores due to theft, it can’t be blamed for trying new tactics.
There is some irony here, of course, that a retail business model predicated on self-service would need to be modified with gates, traffic barriers, cameras, etc.
If those anti-theft measures create a feeling of security for shoppers, they will likely be well accepted. If the design of those measures creates a menacing atmosphere, some shoppers (likely the biggest spenders) will seek alternative locations.

I wonder how much in-store “advertising” they did to tell their shoppers the barriers were for their safety? That should make it less weird.

Safeway and all retailers will need to continue to adapt the physical store to protect its customers, employees, and bottom line. If the same changes were made in a rural location in the Midwest, we would not be talking about it. Unfortunately, these types of changes need to be made to deter theft and will soon become the norm in many areas. In the Home Depot example, someone will figure out how to defeat the Bluetooth security measure. However for many retailers the approach is to continue to add levels of deterrence as there is no single solution.

I hope all retailers can slam the door on shoplifting, but there are larger problems in society that contribute to this situation. Retailers need to implement smart measures with a blend of operations and technology to preempt these attacks. Home Depot’s Bluetooth solution is innovative, but that won’t work on high-end jewelry or designer bags. Implementing measures for Best Buy will be different than Safeway and will be different than Lowe’s. In every case, however, smart minds from our public and private communities need to pull together to stop this lawlessness.

Do I see Safeway’s introduction of barriers and other security measures as workable long-term solutions? Not long term. Someone gets in with a gun, they better hope people can escape the store. In a case of a fire? Seems to me that it’s better to have a very efficient system that would some how allow customers out when a horrible act takes place.

Safeway’s actions may not deter all shoplifter theft, but they do make Safeway a less desirable place to target. Their actions may make customers feel safer. But the unfortunate fact is, the shoplifters are likely to find a softer target so the problem doesn’t’ go away, it just moves down the street.

It depends on the location, and given the current situation in San Francisco there isn’t a choice if they want to maintain coverage in the area. The alternative is to close the store which they are not willing to do. Right now physical barriers and increased hands on security is the only solution in the short term in the face of the organized shoplifting that is going on. Target in my area has most of the high theft items secured behind doors (toothpaste, laundry detergent, etc) and increased security personnel coverage. Until the police and prosecutor break up the organized crime rings it is going to be in the norm for a while.

Safeway is using a proven technique to deter theft and it’s just as strong as an ADT sign on a residential lawn. Thieves will prefer easier targets, but it reduces the issue for Safeway. The root cause still needs to be solved for and might be a bit more problematic, requiring more than just installing security barricades.